Cyprus is known as a tourist destination with plenty of sunshine and beaches. With the island's division in 1974, key touristic areas, with their accommodations and other facilities, remained in the island's north and had the potential to generate revenues for the Turkish Cypriot administration there. Due to the clientelistic (and sometimes corrupt) activities of policymakers in the north, the utilization and allocation of these resources have not been handled very efficiently. Although the island's north receives a significant number of tourists each year, the impact of this sector on the overall economy is questionable.
This report discusses the development of the tourism sector in the island's north since 1974. After we give an overview of the developments in this sector for the entire island before 1974, we first discuss the supply and demand for tourism services in the post-1974 period. We introduce the number of touristic establishments that came under the control of the Turkish Cypriot administration after the separation. Section 4 then introduces a map of north Cyprus comparing key measures in this sector between 1974 and 2016. Given the high level of emphasis placed on this sector by the lawmakers in the north, we also discuss the sector's impact on overall economic development in section 5, with a separate section on the casinos that have become a key contributor to this sector.
Overall, then, the report provides an overview of the uneven developments in the north Cyprus tourism sector since 1974. The report includes statistics that were previously publicly unavailable and a map that gives a clear picture of changes in this sector.
